If you thought Jimmy Rollins' re-signing with the Phillies was inevitable a couple of days ago, the recent signings of Alex Gonzalez and Rafael Furcal by the Brewers and the Cardinals make it a stone-cold lock.

Options dwindling for Rollins, Phillies

For Jimmy Rollins, the list of potential suitors appears to be limited to the Phillies. (Ron Cortes/Staff file photo)

David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer

Posted:
Saturday, December 10, 2011, 3:28 PM

If you thought Jimmy Rollins' re-signing with the Phillies was inevitable a couple of days ago, the recent signings of Alex Gonzalez and Rafael Furcal by the Brewers and the Cardinals make it a stone-cold lock.

If you believe the Phillies when they express a willingness to enter the season with Freddy Galvis and Wilson Valdez as their options at short stop, well, that makes one of us. There are still some fringe players out there, but none are any more impressive than Valdez and Galvis -- Ronny Cedeno, Yuniesky Betancourt, and so on. Feel free to slump over on your keyboard. The Phillies could certainly look to deal for a player like Eduardo Nunez or Jed Lowrie or Mike Aviles, but it is generally hard to acquire defensive utility players because they are almost always worth more to their own team than whatever another team is willing to give up.

As for Rollins, the list of potential suitors appears to be limited to the Phillies. The way I see it, these are the only teams who would even have the need for a guy like Rollins:

The Rays aren't going to give Rollins the kind of contract he is looking for. The Mets are looking to shed payroll, not add it. You have to figure the Nationals are not yet ready to give up on Desmond. The Reds don't appear to have the money. The Giants have veteran options who can fill in if the highly-touted Crawford stumbles.

The Braves and the Royals are the only two teams that appear to pose even a semblance of a threat. The Royals don't always make the smartest personnel decisions, so who knows.

But in reality, it comes down to Rollins and the Phillies. Rafael Furcall just singed a two-year, $14 million deal with the Cardinals. That's a pretty significant chunk of change for a guy who has barely been on the field the last couple seasons.

To me, an at-market deal for Rollins would be 4 years, $36 million with a club option and reasonable buyout. There were some rumblings that Rollins could get $13 mil a year. To me, that's a huge overpay, just based on the market rate for short stops. Now that there does not appear to be much of a market for Rollins, you would think a four-year, $40 million deal would easily get it done. If Phils really don't want to go beyond three years, I think a 3 year, 30 million deal with a club option that has a big buyout and vests on certain incentives would make sense.